Schirmer pleads not guilty to killing first wife

Thursday

Feb 14, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Three weeks after he was convicted of murdering his second wife in Monroe County, Arthur Schirmer traveled to Lebanon County Wednesday to waive his arraignment and enter a not guilty plea on a criminal homicide charge resulting from the death of his first wife, Jewel, in Lebanon County in 1999.

STEVE SNYDER

Three weeks after he was convicted of murdering his second wife in Monroe County, Arthur Schirmer traveled to Lebanon County Wednesday to waive his arraignment and enter a not guilty plea on a criminal homicide charge resulting from the death of his first wife, Jewel, in Lebanon County in 1999.

The vast majority of criminal defendants waive their arraignment, which is the formal reading of charges in court.

Outside the courtroom, Reish said he would be filing pretrial motions.

Schirmer, 64, was convicted by a Monroe County jury on Jan. 22 of killing his second wife, Betty Jean, and staging a car crash to cover up the crime in Monroe County in July 2008. He is scheduled to be sentenced on that conviction in March.

Jewel Schirmer died at the Hershey Medical Center on April 24, 1999, a day after suffering what doctors called a traumatic brain injury. Arthur Schirmer told police he found his wife at the bottom of the basement stairs of their North Lebanon Township home when he returned from jogging.

At the time of Jewel Schirmer's death, the couple lived at 915 Skyline Drive. Schirmer was a pastor at Bethany United Methodist Church of Lebanon. He was pastor there for 22 years before moving to Reeders in 2001.

Reish met with Lebanon County District Attorney David Arnold later in the morning Wednesday.

Arnold said the two discussed local court procedures. Arnold suggested that Reish request a status conference with the court to discuss pretrial issues and a trial schedule. That conference could take place in about a month.

"I think we're on the same page as far as a schedule is concerned," Arnold said. "We're probably looking between fall and spring for a trial." '